Thursday, April 15, 2010

Vintage Thingies Thursday: Bubble Bath and Hair Bows

For this edition of Vintage Thingies Thursday, I am going to share one of the beauty books in my collection that I mentioned in a earlier post. Bubble Bath and Hair Bows by Mallen DeSantis was one of the beauty books that started my collection. It was published in 1963 and is about the daily grooming habits of a little girl named Jean Ellen. 

I have an ex-library copy as I wasn't so much concerned about the collectible nature of this book as for the content that establishes a child's wardrobe in the early1960s.  You can still find copies of this book as they are not very scarce.


I was a young teen when I found this book, and the only parts of this book that held any fascination for me then and now are in the last two chapters, Wardrobe and Clothes. The last two chapters about Jean Ellen's 1960s little girl wardrobe discuss what she wore, the different outfits she wore on various occasions, and how she took care of her clothes. 

One of my favorite pages is about how Mary Ellen took care of her gloves because my mother told me that her mother taught her to wash out her white gloves after each use.

So here are some of the pages that teach us what many (middle-class) young girls wore in the early 1960s.  Click on the photos to enlarge them so you can read the text:










I hope that you enjoyed this edition of Vintage Thingies Thursday.  Don't forget to visit Coloradolady's blog for more vintage things today!

12 comments:

  1. How precious! What a cute post. I love the outfits the little girl has on, those remind me of some I used to have! ~minus the hair bows! Have a great VTT!

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  2. This is the cutest post ever. Happy VTT,have a lovely weekend.

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  3. Love that post! I would have been glued to this book when I was a kid!

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  4. I'm not that organised now and I'm a jolly big grown up! How fab is that book?! I really enjoyed this post. sending smiles, Emma. x

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  5. I REMEMBER when we girls all wore dresses to school.

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  6. I'm so glad that you all enjoyed this post! I'm delighted. I wish I could show you the entire book!

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  7. I should have been made to read that book! I would pile my clothes on my desk chair, and when the chair toppled over I knew it was time to hang up my clothes! What a great little book!
    Happy VTT!
    Carol

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  8. LOL! Love the picture of her washing out her white gloves!

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  9. The pics and the comments and the era....very dear.

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  10. Oh my goodness! Bubble bath and hair bows. :( My hair was very long when I was little, and my mother always had it pulled back in a ponytail with those little marbled holders. LOL As for bubble bath, I have fond memories of my grandma because of that. She always had those big pink bottles of bubble bath from Avon. I used to love watching the bubbles fill the tub and the clean fresh scent. It's funny because now I only like showers! LOL
    Have a wonderful weekend, Theresa

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  11. Adorable! I have a friend who would love this. :)

    Val

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  12. My aunt gave me this book when I was a child. I loved it so much because it never occurred to my mother to teach me all the "girly" things one should know. Thanks for sharing this!

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